Tag: NGV International

John Kenny Memorial Lectures | The Origins and Development of Ceramic Design | Saturday 26th September from 10am at NGV International Speaker Leslie B. Grigsby, Senior Curator of Ceramics and Glass, Winterthur Museum, Delaware, USA Book online here – $75 members/ $85 full Explore the development of design in glass and earthenware in these three special lectures by Leslie B. Grigsby, Senior Curator of Ceramics and Glass, Winterthur Museum, Delaware, USA .Presented by The Ceramics and Glass Circle of Australia. 10am: “An Adoration of the Orient: The Chinese Taste Reflected in Western Ceramics” Focussing on Chinese ceramics and selected other Asian artwork such as lacquer ware, in this lecture Grigsby will explore important inspirations for Western ceramic design from the 17th to the early 19th centuries. English and Continental European earthenware, stoneware and porcelain in useful and decorative shapes will feature largely in the discussion. Also included will be Chinese…

Masterpieces from the Hermitage: The Legacy of Catherine the Great at the National Gallery of Victoria International until the 8th November 2015. We enter the exhibition face-to-face with Catherine the Great in a portrait by Swedish artist Alexander Roslin. The Empress was not altogether impressed by the portrait, declaring that Roslin had made her look like ‘a Swedish cook, coarse and simple.’ Despite Catherine’s reservations, the portrait (which shows the Empress in ‘Slavonic’ dress, fastened with a diamond buckle and pointing toward a bust of Peter the Great) proved to be a successful representation and was copied numerous times. The painting is flanked by two busts of the philosophes Voltaire and Diderot by the little-known French sculptor Marie-Anne Collot. On some level, both men had an almost personal friendship with Catherine. In one letter, Voltaire complimented her as an ‘enlightened despot’…

Three floor talks at the National Gallery of Victoria from Melbourne-based art historians as part of the current Masterpieces from the Hermitage Exhibition. Floor talks will take place in the exhibition, they are free but you need to pay the exhibition entrance fee. No bookings are required, for further details see the website. Sunday 13th September 1pm | Italy, the North, and 18th Century Taste in Russia The large royal collections that were assembled, arranged and exhibited across Europe during the second half of the eighteenth century now act as documents of taste from the time. Among other things, a strong taste for Baroque art, in particular from Italy and the Northern countries was ever-present in Catherine the Great’s collection in St Petersburg, visible in the works she acquired as well as the manner in which they were displayed. This talk will examine…

In conjunction with the current NGV exhibition Masterpieces from the Hermitage: The Legacy of Catherine the Great the NGV is presenting a series of lectures on Philosophy, Literature and Catherine the Great. Catherine the Great’s intellectual pursuits extended far beyond her collection of art. Exchanging letters over a fifteen year period with French writer, historian and philosopher Voltaire, she was spurred to bring Russia into the modern era through ideas raised by the Enlightenment and its supporters. Patronage of the arts and education, as well as economic achievements, led to Catherine’s reign being cited as the golden age of Russia. In this special series of four lectures, specialists of history, philosophy and literature explore this rich period through the lens of the philosophers and writers of the time. Sunday 6 September, 2pm | Catherine La Grande, Empress and Autocrat of all the Russias German-born Catherine…

The Melbourne Conservatorium of Music and National Gallery of Victoria are delighted to host a program of specialist talks and music performance, exploring music in the time of Spanish artist Francisco de Goya, and the impact of his art on the emergence of Hispanic musical modernity in the early twentieth century. Symposium: Goya and Spanish Music (9.30am – 2.45pm) Speakers: Convened by Michael Christoforidis the speakers include distinguished Spanish scholars Francesc Cortes* (Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona), Miguel Ángel Marín (Universidad de La Rioja), Luisa Morales (FIMTE), and local experts from the University of Melbourne and the NGV, including Michael Christoforidis, David Irving, Liz Kertesz, Geraldine Power, and Yolanda Acker. Download the full program here (pdf) Tickets: Free, no booking required Venue: Clemenger BBDO Auditorium Ground level, NGV International 180 St Kilda Rd, Melbourne NB entry via Groups entrance off Arts Centre…

Catherine and her art collection played a vital role defining Russian nationhood in a time of drastic social, political and cultural changes. Even now, the State Hermitage Museum’s exquisite collection and iconic architecture is linked to understandings of Russian identity. Join visiting international and Australian specialists as they explore the relationship between art collections, the buildings that house them, nationhood and cultural identity. Speakers Senior Curator Maria Menshikova, Department of Oriental Art and Culture of the State Hermitage Museum Assistant Professor Tijana Vujosevic, University of Western Australia; and Professor Professor Jennifer Milam, University of Sydney. Date: Saturday 1st August, 2–5pm Venue: NGV International, Ground level, Clemenger BBDO Auditorium Tickets: $30 academic, student and concession / $35 Adult / $28 NGV Member, includes light refreshments Book online at ngv.vic.gov.au

The National Gallery has announced that their summer exhibition this year will feature Andy Warhol and Ai Wei Wei. The exhibition has been developed by the NGV and The Andy Warhol Museum in Pittsburgh, and Ai Wei Wei himself. The exhibition will open in December at the NGV and then at The Andy Warhol Museum in June 2016. From the NGV Andy Warhol | Ai Weiwei, developed by the NGV and The Warhol, with the participation of Ai Weiwei, will explore the significant influence of these two exemplary artists on modern and contemporary life, focussing on the parallels, intersections and points of difference between the two artists’ practices. Surveying the scope of both artists’ careers, the exhibition at the NGV will present over 300 works, including major new commissions, immersive installations and a wide representation of paintings, sculpture, film, photography, publishing and social media. Presenting the work…

The National Gallery of Victoria has an outstanding collection of Pre-Raphaelite art (ranging from paintings and drawings to textiles and stained glass) – as is demonstrated by the current exhibition, Medieval Moderns: The Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood. In conjunction with this exciting exhibition, various academics, curators and specialists will come together in a symposium to discuss the British Pre-Raphealite movement and its significance in Australia. The symposium will include a keynote lecture by visiting scholar Dr Barbara Bryant on Australia’s Pre-Raphaelite Collections: the People behind the Portraits. Full details here. Beginning with a guided tour of the exhibition Medieval Moderns: The Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood with curator Laurie Benson on the Friday morning, the program includes six sessions of speakers over two days. A detailed program available here. Presented in conjunction with the Faculty of Arts, The University of Melbourne. Speakers include Laurie Benson, Shane Carmody, Grace…

The idea of portraiture in Pre-Raphaelite art encompassed a new and exciting range of possibilities. The Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood painted portraits with a stark realism that was unlike anything seen before. The meaning of the formal portrait mutated into a more direct vision of a real person, while subject paintings gained new meanings as artists cast friends and family in new roles. Dr Barbara Bryant is an art historian and writer who specialises in the work of artists in nineteenth-century Britain. In this special lecture, Dr Bryant looks at the real individuals in the extended Pre-Raphaelite circles to explore their impact on the artistic practice of D.G. Rossetti, F.M Brown, J.E. Millais, E. Burne-Jones and G.F. Watts in the 1850s and 1860s with particular reference to works in Australian collections. This lecture is part of a symposium on the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood.…

The NGV is running a lecture series exploring the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood as part of their current exhibition Medieval Moderns: The Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood. Sat 16 May: Laurie Benson, Curator, International Art ‘The Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood in the National Gallery of Victoria’ The Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood are widely recognised as a the most dynamic group of artists to ever work in Britain. They radically shifted the goal-posts of the British art world, changing it forever. The NGV’s holdings of works by the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood are world renowned. The Gallery has been consistently acquiring these works since the 1880s until today. Medieval Moderns is the first comprehensive exhibition of the NGV’s Pre Raphaelites for more than forty years and this talk will focus on the collecting of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood by the NGV. Sat 23 May: Dr Vivien Gaston, The University of Melbourne ‘Fantasy and Fidelity: Portraits by the…

An exhibition, which opens this weekend at the NGV International, will focus on the NGV’s impressive collection of Pre-Raphaelite art. Opening weekend talks On Sunday 12th April there will be two free introductory talks to the new exhibition 2pm Explore the role of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood in the Arts and Crafts movement in Britain, their place in the development of the illustrated book and their profound influence on later generations of artists with International Art Curator, Laurie Benson. Speaker Laurie Benson, Curator, International Art 3pm Capturing a sitter’s likeness was not central to the portraits by Sir Edward Burne-Jones. Join Emily Wubben, University of Melbourne, as she explores Burne-Jones’ portrait of Baronne Madeleine Deslandes and provides fresh insights into the sitter. Speaker Emily Wubben, Scholar, University of Melbourne Free Entry. Bookings not required. Meet in exhibition space. More details here. About the Exhibition In 1848…

The NGV has announced this year’s Melbourne Winter Masterpiece exhibition will be ‘Masterpieces from the Hermitage: The Legacy of Catherine the Great’. From one great empire to another – last year we took in the Royal Collection of the Hapsburg’s of Spain in ‘Italian Masterieces from the Prado‘, this winter we look to Russia and the collection of Catherine the Great. The Hermitage holds one of the most important collections of European Art and one of the largest collections of art anywhere in the world. This exhibition will highlight the collection as it was drawn together by Catherine the Great. She founded the Hermitage in 1764, but she had begun to collect pictures from the moment she ascended to the throne in 1762. The works coming out for this exhibition range in date from artists who would have been ‘old…

The exhibition A Golden of China: Qianlong Emperor 1736-1795 opens today at the NGV International. The exhibition draws on the collections of the Beijing’s Palace Museum in the Forbidden City to tell the story of the great eighteenth-century Qianlong Emperor who ruled China for almost sixty years. He was the fourth emperor of the Qing dynasty and the longest living emperor in Chinese history. The Qianlong Emperor’s long 60-year reign (1736–1795) was a particularly fascinating time in China’s history. Under his rule, China was the wealthiest and most populous nation in the world. Qianlong’s ability to preserve and foster his Manchu warrior-huntsman traditions whilst adopting the Confucian principles of political and cultural leadership, resulted in the successful governing of 150 million Chinese people. It was his ability to adopt Chinese ways, yet honour his Manchu traditions that made him one of the most successful emperors of the Qing dynasty. The Qianlong Emperor studied Chinese…

In the course of his long career, the French artist Henri Matisse (1869-1954) repeatedly looked at non-Western art for inspiration. Japanese prints, Persian and Indian miniatures, Byzantine icons and mosaics, Chinese brush paintings and art theory, and textiles from across the world, all inspired him at one time or another. Among these varied exotic art forms, Far-Eastern art—Chinese and Japanese–played a unique part in the artist’s career, one coming at the beginning, the other at the end of his career. Both Chinese and Japanese art affected his approach to, and his thinking about, art. But while Japanese art shocked him into an entirely new way of thinking about the relation between representation and reality, Chinese art and, especially art theory, confirmed ideas about art that he had developed and nurtured in the course of fifty years. Professor Petra Chu is…

On closing night, Sunday 8 February, the exhibition will be open from 6pm-10pm with gourmet food, drinks and entertainment. The exhibition will also be open 6pm-10pm on the closing night of The Fashion World of Jean Paul Gaultier, Sunday 8 February. Talks on Saturday 7 February 11am – Mermaids and Madonnas with NGV curator Paola Di Trocchio 12pm – Sex, Identity and the Body in JPG with LaTrobe University Professor Denis Altman (Altman is an author and gay rights activist and was listed by The Bulletin as one of the 100 most influential Australians ever in 2006.) Talks on Sunday 8 February 11am – Odyssey with NGV Senior Curator, Fashion and Textiles, Katie Somerville 12pm – Thierry-Maxime Loriot at The Fashion World of Jean Paul Gaultier (Thierry-Maxime Loriot is the curator of The Fashion World of Jean Paul Gaultier from…